Compositions such as surfactants and polymers, for example, have incorporated fluorine to affect the performance of the composition when the composition is used as a treatment for materials and when the composition is used to enhance the performance of materials. For example, surfactants incorporating fluorinated functional groups can be used as fire extinguishants either alone or in formulations such as aqueous film forming foams (AFFF). Traditional fluorosurfactants, such as perfluoro-octyl sulfonate derivatives (PFOS), have linear perfluorinated portions.
Polymers incorporating fluorine have been used to treat materials. Exemplary fluorinated treatments include compositions such as Scotchguard®.